1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an ion source and, more particularly, to nanostructure electrode surface modification with catalytic materials to enhance atomic ionic isotopic species generation for application to neutron generators.
2. Description of Related Art
Neutrons can be used to examine different parameters of geological formations in borehole logging. For oil wells it can report important properties such as the porosity of the soil. Currently many radioactive sources are used in the oil-well logging industry. These generate neutrons in a radioactive decay. One common material used is americium-beryllium sources. Radiological source replacement programs have the goal to reduce the amount of radioactive sources and replace them with for example neutron generators to lower the risk of proliferation and contamination of oil wells and the environment in general as well as reducing health risks for the workers using radioactive sources at the moment. To replace americium-beryllium sources, neutrons with a similar energy spectrum as the radioactive sources have to be produced. Deuterium and tritium fusion reactions (as an example) can be used for this purpose. Here, deuterium or tritium gas is ionized, accelerated and then interacts with a target that is loaded with either deuterium or tritium. During the ionization phase either ions of the atomic or molecular species are formed (e.g. D+ or D2+). The atomic species has a higher neutron yield compared to the molecular in a fixed acceleration voltage setup due to a higher reaction cross-section.
Thus, a new approach of producing more atomic ions in a generator to increase neutron yields in a fusion reaction is desired.